Sundaresan was among five other advocates whose names were reiterated by the apex court collegium this year, brushing aside requests from the Centre for reconsideration of their appointment as judges of different high courts.
He has been appointed for a term of two years after which his regularisation will be considered as a permanent judge. The other reiterated recommendations of the collegium pending with the government include advocates Saurabh Kripal for the Delhi HC, Amitabh Banerjee and Shakya Sen for Calcutta HC and John Satyan for Madras HC.
The SC collegium had strongly reiterated Sundaresan’s name on January 18 this year saying “expression of views by a candidate (on social media) does not disentitle him to hold a constitutional office so long as the person proposed for judgeship is a person of competence, merit and integrity”.
The law ministry had earlier sent his name back to the collegium seeking reconsideration on the grounds that Sundaresan had “aired his views in the social media on several matters which are the subject matter of consideration before courts”.
However, the collegium reiterated his name saying “the views on social media attributed to the candidate, do not furnish any foundation to infer that he is biased”.
Sundaresan was first recommended by the Bombay HC collegium on October 4, 2021.